When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
I know prior GTSs had larger turbos but haven’t heard or read that the 992 GTS has larger turbos. In light of what M Engineering is able to do with carrera S tunes on stock turbos where it makes power all the way through the higher RPM ranges, the GTS certainly does not need larger turbos for its comparatively very modest power bump.
With respect to why mfgs don’t just release cars with more power, it is because OEM car companies are much more conservative with their tuning. The stock cars come with mfg warranties and need to deal with all kinds of weather and adverse conditions and customers who range from those who treat their cars like garage queens to those who track and drag race their cars all the time. So, in order to have launch control last for hundreds of launches, they will not maximize low end torque and engine power to prevent grenading the PDK trans. Also, to have engines last for days of tracking on end, they will conservatively tune the engines to have less boost, less timing advance, etc. OEMs also have to deal with emissions. Invariably when turbo boost is increased and timing is advanced etc., the cars will typically pollute more. Aftermarket tuners don’t have to deal with these more stringent regulations and use cases by customers who may beat the hell out of their cars.
When the mfg builds an upgraded version with more power, like the GTS, you can bet that hundreds of other small changes are made to meet the mfg’s standards on durability, longevity, emissions compliance, drivability, etc. It’s not as simple as just writing a few lines of code to turn up the boost. Very tangible other mechanical things need to be upgraded and optimized on the car to deal with even a modest power bump, hence the higher base price on the GTS.
This is not to say that aftermarket tunes make cars more prone to breaking. On the contrary, optimizing the car and running safe air fuel ratios will allow the engine to last for hundreds of thousands of miles if the car is not abused (like w/ hours of top speed runs that would melt the turbos w/ turned up boost). However, the added power will cause greater wear on most other parts of your car like the transmission and clutch, suspension, definitely will kill your tires much faster, definitely will use up brakes quicker from both you braking harder and more often to slow you down from the added speed as well as the greater intervention of traction and stability control that uses the rear brakes a lot on these cars.
Thanks for such a comprehensive answer. Durability is a primary factor, it appears.
Porsche themselves would best be suited to answer that. It is certain that Porsche wanted definitive hardparts differentiation between the different models, and we aren't complaining. The bigger compressors on the turbos give you more room to play with to make big power on the higher trim cars. That's not to say that base and S models aren't any good, they just have different configurations for different price points. There's thousands of hours that go into each of these cars' calibrations from the factory, and all play a balance for meeting emissions in certain areas, being able to handle regional octanes, elevation, and have safety headroom, etc. The factory calibrations are always fairly neutered. Porsche makes a great series of engines for their cars that are like hammers, you can beat on them day after day and they still will run forever. They can take some pretty big power and nice upgrades with factory internals as well.
I was quite surprised at the headroom on the Carerra S turbos. You really need to flow a lot of air to make horsepower above 7K rpm. Just adding boost doesn't increase the airflow and if you look at most boosted dyno graphs, the majority of torque is below 3-4K rpm. Porsche left a lot on the table with the S and everything I have read says that the GTS is just a turned up S motor, not bigger turbos like the previous generation. And to get that kind of power with minimal turbo lag is a real feat of engineering. I've been building fast cars for decades and am really impressed with what Porsche did with the 992. If you're getting a GTS for the extra HP, save your money and get a tune.
I was quite surprised at the headroom on the Carerra S turbos. You really need to flow a lot of air to make horsepower above 7K rpm. Just adding boost doesn't increase the airflow and if you look at most boosted dyno graphs, the majority of torque is below 3-4K rpm. Porsche left a lot on the table with the S and everything I have read says that the GTS is just a turned up S motor, not bigger turbos like the previous generation. And to get that kind of power with minimal turbo lag is a real feat of engineering. I've been building fast cars for decades and am really impressed with what Porsche did with the 992. If you're getting a GTS for the extra HP, save your money and get a tune.
Also, the engine has digitally controlled variable valve timing right? So that is another variable that can be tweaked for torque/hp curves.
Wanted to share some pictures of one of the last drives in Socal that we completed with the M-Engineering 992TTS. Big Bear sure is a beautiful place. We are officially moving our main operations from Newport Beach, CA to Phoenix, AZ. We are still going to be serving the SoCal community so don't worry we are still here for you in the air-conditioned sunshine when duty calls!
We look forward to hearing more Rennlisters post up their feedback and experiences here while using M-Tuner.
M-Tuner Suite for the 992 Carrera is available here. Enjoy!
Wanted to share some pictures of one of the last drives in Socal that we completed with the M-Engineering 992TTS. Big Bear sure is a beautiful place. We are officially moving our main operations from Newport Beach, CA to Phoenix, AZ. We are still going to be serving the SoCal community so don't worry we are still here for you in the air-conditioned sunshine when duty calls!
We look forward to hearing more Rennlisters post up their feedback and experiences here while using M-Tuner.
M-Tuner Suite for the 992 Carrera is available here. Enjoy!
-Charles@M
Nice! I moved from Irvine, CA to Gilbert, AZ 3 yrs ago. Great to know you guys are local when I’m ready to tune my car!
Any base Carrera owners pull the trigger on the tune? I’d love to hear feedback. Right now it just seems all reviews are from S owners.
I pulled the trigger on this over a month ago on my base Carrera with an akrapovic exhaust and soul sport cats. I haven’t timed any runs but the car is night and day faster. The customer experience has also been phenomenal.
I may get the M-Engineering tune as well for my base Carrera, running at stage 1, 91 Octane tune, just to play it safe. I'll definitely run 93 Octane gas as it's readily available in Texas.
Does anyone know the states where getting higher octane gas is problematic? I think Colorado is if I'm not mistaken.
09-26-2021, 11:38 AM
